YEAR 2: GROWING IN THE LIFE OF PRAYER AND LOVE

MAKING PROGRESS IN THE LIFE OF PRAYER AND LOVE (A) OUR LADY’S RENEWED CALL TO LIVE BY HER MESSAGES

Weekly message No. 55 (14th March 1985):

Carry the light to those who are in darkness.

“Dear children! In your life you have all experienced light and darkness. God grants to every person to recognize good and evil. I am calling you to the light which you should carry to all the people who are in darkness. People who are in darkness daily come into your homes. Dear children, given them the light! Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Daily Spiritual Exercises: Week 55 Starting Thursday, 12 March 2015

1st day: Thursday Brotherly love and reconciliation.

Matthew 5:20-26
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment. But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny.

2nd day: Friday By walking in the light of Jesus we become the children of light.

John 12:35-36.
35 Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from them.

Cf. John 9:4-5.
4 We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Cf. John 11:9.
9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

3rd day: Saturday Following Jesus who is the light of the world we shall have the light of life.

John 8:12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Cf. Isaiah 9:1
But there will be no gloom for her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

4th day: Sunday Shining like stars in the midst of “deceitful and underhand brood.”

Philippians 2:14-15
Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

Cf. Luke 1:76-79
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, when the day shall dawn upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

5th day: Monday The effects of the light are seen “in complete goodness and uprightness and truth.”

Ephesians 5:8-14
For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do in secret; but when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.

Cf. John 3:20-21
For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

6th day: Tuesday The difference between living in light and in darkness.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-8
But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that day to surprise you like a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

Cf. Romans 13:12-13
The night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy.

7th day: Wednesday “You are light for the world.”
Cf. John 15:8.

Matthew 5:14-16.
14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. 15 Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Cf. John 15:8.
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.

SUGGESTIONOffering help to someone in difficulty, or just try to cheer up someone who is sad.